TuneCore: In Q1 We Paid $42 Million To Artists

That’s a 16% year-over-year increase…

But, what’s more interesting, is that TuneCore reports that their growth in revenue was fuelled by a 126% increase in gross revenue from YouTube, which includes a 730% increase in revenue from YouTube’s Art Tracks initiative. TuneCore CEO Scott Ackerman says,

“This year we’re going to almost triple the YouTube revenue in that product, because there’s more and more people creating videos and using artists’ music. I think when you look at our artist base, they’re not as concerned that somebody put a video up using their music, as long as they’re being paid for it.”

These reported figures are surprising to many, and come at a time where YouTube has been under fire for low royalty payouts and slammed for ignoring the interest of artists over ineffective measures for dealing with copyright infringed content on the platform. But, Ackerman seems to have a solid way of helping artists receive the correct payouts for their content on the service.

”YouTube has a system where artists can go through TuneCore and we’ll go out and search for them where their music is being heard and give them the money they deserve off the advertising piece. While some artists are claiming that they’re not making money on YouTube, our artists are continuing to make more and more, and they’re getting more exposure”, says Ackerman.

But, its not just inclining YouTube revenue that has helped boost TuneCore’s revenue and payouts to artists, streaming has also had profound effects. With the uprise of streaming services, especially last year with the addition of Apple Music and Tidal, more and more artists are signing up and more fans are also subscribing. In terms of streaming, Ackerman says, ”playlists and features are an important piece. [It’s] really a win-win, because an artist has both the store and Tunecore supporting them to get their music heard.”

4 Responses

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Tunecore artists do not have access to ContentID — so they can not monetize UGC.

Here’s why:

Almost all recording artist today use commercially cleared and 100% legitimate, but non-exclusive samples from common keyboards, synthesizers, drum kits and commercial sample libraries, such as Kontakt or BFD.

That kind of cleared, legitimate content is a no-go for aggregators like Tunecore. I asked them once, and here’s what they said:

“You cannot submit tracks to YouTube for revenue collection that Contain any audio library samples, sound effects, or production loops (such as GarageBand loops) -Contain any third party content that you do not have exclusively licensed (such as samples you do not have exclusively licensed)”

…I forgot to say that Tunecore obviously lies in the statement above — you can certainly submit tracks to YouTube for revenue collection that Contain cleared audio library samples — you just have to upload directly to YouTube.

Tunecore is very valuable as it relates to iTunes and similar stores, but it’s important never to use the service for YouTube videos.